New London paying $50,000 to settle lawsuit with Daniel J. Golodner

New London - The city has settled a 2012 lawsuit with a resident over allegations of police misconduct, agreeing to pay Daniel J. Golodner $50,000 to drop his federal lawsuit.

In the agreement, dated April 25, Golodner gave up his right to sue the city and six police officers who had alleged violated his rights when they arrested him in 2009. The settlement also states that the city does not admit to any wrongdoing or liability.

The settlement will be paid through the city's insurance carrier, XL/Indian Harbor Insurance Co.

Golodner alleged the six officers "chilled" his First Amendment right to free speech, illegally followed and stopped him in his car while he was with his then 6-year-old daughter, falsely arrested him and used excessive force.

The City Council approved the settlement in April. Because of a confidentially clause in the two-page agreement, City Attorney Jeffrey Londregan declined to comment. The settlement document was released following a Freedom of Information request.

Golodner, who has a history with the city and the police department, alleged he was harassed by police in April 2009 during an incident that began at the CVS store parking lot at Jefferson Avenue and Bank Street and ended a short time later with his arrest in the driveway of his home on Colman Street.

Last summer, Golodner was sentence to six months in prison following a lengthy appeal process concerning his arrest in 2008 following a different encounter with city police and surveyors on his property on Colman Street.

Also, in 2010, a 2008 federal lawsuit against the city and seven police officers that alleged police misconduct was dismissed in U.S. District Court in Bridgeport. Golodner has alleged the police "harbored actual malice against him" and refused to accept criminal complaints he wanted to lodge against his neighbors. The lawsuit involved a series of disputes, which dated to 2004, between Golodner and his neighbors and police response to those disputes.